A Woman's Philosophy of Woman; or, Woman affranchised.: An answer to Michelet, Proudhon, Girardin, Legouvé, Comte, and other modern innovatorsHéricourt, Madame d'
Philosophy
A Woman's Philosophy of Woman; or, Woman affranchised.: An answer to Michelet, Proudhon, Girardin, Legouvé, Comte, and other modern innovators
Héricourt, Madame d'
Women's rights -- France
_Epidermic and cellular systems._ Man has a more hairy skin than woman;
what is called fat is less abundant in the masculine than in the feminine
organism; in general, the skin of man is rougher, and his form less
round; woman has longer and more silky hair. _Splanchnic organs._ The
cerebral mass is the same in proportion in both sexes, as well as the
organs of the brain, with the exception of the predominances which we
have pointed out; the respiratory systems differ somewhat; woman breaths
higher than man; in the latter, the circulation is more active and
energetic.
To these physical differences correspond intellectual and moral
differences.
Woman, having the nerves of feeling more fully developed, is more
impressionable and more mobile than man.
Being weaker and as persistent, she obtains by address and stratagem what
she cannot obtain by force; her weakness gives her timidity,
circumspection, the necessity of feeling herself protected.
The kinds of labor that require strength are repugnant to her.
Her maternal destiny renders her an enemy of destruction, of war; and her
more delicate organization makes her dread and shun contention. This same
maternal destination impresses a peculiar stamp on her intellect; she
loves the concrete, and is always inclined to transform thought into
facts, to incarnate it, to give it a fixed form; her reasoning is
intuition or quick perception of a general relation, of a truth that man
elucidates only with great difficulty, by the aid of stilted logic.
Woman is a better observer than man, and carries induction farther than
he; she is consequently more penetrating, and is a much better judge of
the moral and intellectual value of those about her.
She has, more than man, sentiment of the beautiful, delicacy of heart,
love of good, respect for modesty, veneration for everything superior.
More provident than he, she has more order and economy, and looks after
administrative details with a carefulness which is often carried to
puerility.
Woman is adroit, sedulous; she excels in works of taste, and possesses
strong artistic tendencies.
Gentler, more tender, more patient than man, she loves everything that is
weak, protects everything that suffers; every sorrow, every calamity
brings a tear to her eye and draws a sigh from her breast.
This is woman, such as you paint her, gentlemen.
You then add:
The vocation of woman therefore is love, maternity, the household,
sedentary occupations.
She is too weak for occupations that demand strength, and for those of
war.
She is too impressionable and too feeling, too good, too gentle to be
legislator, judge or juror.
Her taste for household details, a retired life, and the grave functions
of maternity indicate clearly that she is not made for public
employments. She is too variable to cultivate science with profit; too
feeble and too much occupied beside to pursue protracted experiments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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